City clamping down on hotel projects in M1 districts

Could the Bushwick hotel boom be over? Hotel developers are about to find their jobs a little bit tougher after the de Blasio administration and City Council reached an agreement on zoning changes that would limit new hotels in Industrial Business Zones.

The agreement is part of a larger plan to grow the city’s manufacturing and industrial center and comes as hotel development has become increasingly common in areas of the city zoned for industrial use.

While those districts — including areas zoned M1 for light manufacturing uses — were created to boost the city’s manufacturing industry, they have also permitted hotel to be built as-of-right, according to the New York Observer.

But the mayor’s office and the Council said they will create a new special permit that will be required before any new hotels can be built into those light manufacturing districts, and will also put restrictions on mini-storage facilities that they say don’t create as many jobs as other uses.

The new rules won’t apply in the areas surrounding John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, however; hotels won’t need a special permit because they serve airport-related businesses, the city said. [NYO] – Rey Mashayekhi